Contains profanity and fifty billion reference links (and links to random crap I wrote before), so if you haven't already disabled that 'link preview' thing, you might want to or you'll go nuts. Also much inconsistency and dithering since it's harder to switch mental gears from tax preparation to the apocalypse than you might think.

In addition to the usual no spoilers request, I'd like to ask for everyone to refrain from making any reference to 5.20 in comments. I'm hoping to get time to watch it soon, but haven't yet. Hopefully tonight.

And yes, I will be catching up on comments and f-list soon.

Spoiler and Theorizing Timeline

April 21st - Spoiler 5.19 - Basically, from a split second hearing of a surprise!promo and a few other sideways comments, something like "Hotel California" *squee* Expecting, (finally!) that montage of hotel rooms and particularly the conspicuous shots of hotel room keys from the past Season or so. Also, it's totally Gabriel.

Morning April 22nd - Blurb at the bottom of unrelated article. Kidnapped by Kali and Ganesh. ...either it's a burst of last minute crack, (seriously, Ganesh?), an attempt to put in the perspectives of non-Judeo-Christian cultures (which could be awesome and/or painful and/or could bring a metric ass-load of wank, simultaneously), or Gabriel is screwing with them again some more. That said, I WANT ODIN TO SHOW UP! Or Thor. I'm easy.

Noonish April 22nd - Title! "Hammer of the Gods" THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!! Or Viking kittens! \o/ Like I said, I'm easy. Hee!

So. Old school deities, fancy hotel in the middle of nowhere. The earthly retreat of deities? Could be? And could be Hotel California. And maybe run by Gabriel. Whee!

Picspam Reaction, with Meta, speculation and handwaving for Supernatural 5.19 - "Hammer of the Gods"

Well. I would guess that there's some stuff in this episode people might find offensive or disrespectful. That said, I'm going to squee anyway. If anyone reading has a problem with squee as a response to this episode, I respect your opinions, and I'm sorry you feel that way, but you'll want to skip this reaction post.

Me, I'm keeping in mind that this is Supernatural, not a documentary on comparative religion and mythology, and that pretty much every belief system Show gets its hands on has... issues of interpretation shall we say? And I'm also reminding myself that the big disclaimer screen at the start of each episode that says something to the effect of "This is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real world deities or mythological personages is mostly coincidental and used for the purposes of plot and stuff and no offense is intended to anyone," is invisible to most people.

Anyway, squee now.

-*is ambushed by 'Then'* Gabriel/Trickster! \o/

-Muncie, Indiana... Why is that location familiar? [No idea, it's not turning up anything that jumps out on Google.]

-Bummer on the lack of hotel montage! Dammit! I was really hoping for one. If I could vid I'd make my own montage. There has to be a reason behind the increase in conspicuous key and hotel shots in the past two years though.*ponders*

-Old rundown hotel, soon to be dead security guy. *nods* Elysian Fields Hotel. Hahaha. Cute. Things coming back to life, inanimate objects healing. Anti-entropic behavior is never a good sign, at least on this show.

-"They are coming. All of them. We've each got a part to play." Awesome, and a little shiversome. I think it's the bow tie. This guy's a 'That Guy' too.[I have no idea why, I've apparently seen nothing he's ever been in. Odd. Though I must say, the first paragraph of his bio is a joy to behold.]

-Ah, yes. The Impala can park wherever she damn well pleases, as always. Apocalypse or no apocalypse, some things are immutable. Nice dream-like fogging of the light sources.

-Aw, they look half-drowned. *pats*

-Blood sample! Crap! Dean! This guy just took your blood! That doesn't, like, ping anything? Blood? How old is token magic? How many cultures have a representation? I mean you've gotta know blood's got power to it, the whole Angel-B-Gone sigil, and stuff? Eeeeeh. Dean's guard's down, and he's too used to randomly bleeding. Gah.[Heeheehee. I'm apparently more psychic or sensitive to plot developments than I thought, because while the guy with the name-tag that says he's 'Chet' did not take the bloody tissue from Dean, he did get a blood sample. ;-D I'd missed that the cut wasn't there a second before and thought it was a remnant of the Castiel back-alley smackdown from last week. Nothing like a production error that isn't a production error. :-)]

-Great. Blood-binding magic and the best pie in the tri-state area. Dean's screwed.

-Those are not Dean-sized pieces of pie. Those are samples. Or perhaps scouting missions. Look, you can literally see Dean plotting an assault on the lemon meringue. Pie strategy. *nods*

-"Heaven, right?"/"Trust me pal, better." Aw. Weedy little background guy with a line to say. So very cute. So very very doomed. Or evil. And therefore also doomed. *nods*

-Aha! And Dean pounces, not on the lemon meringue, but the unsuspecting chocolate cream, considerately saving the pie-cutter the trouble of how to divide the chocolate thingy between pieces. Dean Winchester, expert pie strategist.

-"How you doin'?"/"No." Bwahahaha! I like her. Nice try Dean. *pats*

-"Nobody's giving up. Especially me." \o/

-"You are no good to me burnt out." Funny I just got the same speech at work today [Thursday afternoon, a week and a half ago.]. :-P

-Totally Hotel California. Stick to the pie and the salad bar. Avoid the special.

-Dean's room squee is infectious. And understandable considering in many of the many hotels he's been in in his life the only surprise left on the pillow would be a cockroach. At best. *nods*

-Casa Erotica 13. Arg. *facepalm*

-Teleplay by Dabb and Loflin... Teleplay, hm? So who's idea was it?

-Wall. Whoa. O.o And a different decor in the formerly occupied room with recently disrupted wall. And the same window-to-wall-to room divided proportions as the room in "Great Pumpkin". That's Uriel's window of introductory strumpy brooding. Set design got a workout this ep.

-Story by David Reed. Ah, so if I recall the terminology right, that means it's his idea, but Dabb and Loflin scriptified it? Directed by Rick Bota. Neither of them sound familiar. [David Reed has been a script coordinator on the show for a long while, but as far as writing credits go, this is his first. He's so new he's shiny! Rick Bota's done quite a few things, but this seems to be his first Supernatural gig.]

-Yay for the return of detail-eyed Dean and his Perception bonus! Because seriously, that ring is invisible 'til he picks it up. \o/

-"Super fantastic!" EEEEEK RUN AWAY!!! Oh! Hey! Was this guy Crazy-Suspenders Waiter in... gah, other episode. This season or season 4. Sam and Dean in a bar... The ridiculously cheerful waiter? Oh! Start of "Wishful Thinking"! Remember that guy? I think that's this guy. [Nope. Totally different guy. Damn, thought I had it there!]

-"One night off." *empathizes with Dean*

-There's that wall in the background outside again, someone was watching for it, sorry I forget who. There's a lot of reused hotel props in this ep I think. The rooms screens are very familiar. Cataloging the set pieces in this ep would be a heck of a summer hiatus project for someone.

-Hey! Speaking of reuse of set thingies, look! It's the drinks machine and hallway from Sin City! I think?

-Dean's face! XD [...hey... Hey! On the wall, is that a print of this XKDC with the Neil Gaiman quote?? Because that would be awesome, and add a whole 'nother massive layer of meta to every single thing ever that happened in this episode. Probably.]

-"This ain't no peep show, man!" Well, closing the door when taking a shower would help preserve your privacy. Just a thought. *blinks* Ganesh's human form looks a lot like Big Mike from Chuck... [Only when seen quickly. Totally different actor of course. Because that much crack would break something.]

-Dean's face again!

-There was a kind of odd emphasis on that necklace, wonder if it's going to turn out to be important?

-Oh, he's Mercury! Ooo. [There's gonna be a load of links in this reaction. Mercury Roman via Greek. Hm... links via syncretism (Romans liked to incorporate bits of other cultures and beliefs into their own and retcon their mythology. Sort of.) to Germanic deity Wotan, and Celtic deity Lugus. Wotan linking to Odin, Lugus to Loki. Hm. There's either meta, a paradox, or a causal loop there. May have to brain later.]

-Yep, guests are all lunch. Sorry. Absent. Soon to be lunch. Totally Hotel California. Seriously, that is nearly a verse from the song there. "You can check out any time you like/but you can never leave." Wonder if they had rights issues and had to peel out overtly stated references?

-"Detour on I-90." That's in California, right? Or is it? Is Muncie Indiana anywhere near the I-90? [Right. I-90 crosses the US almost entirely, so it does go through Indiana, but about 240 km/150 miles away from Muncie. Yeah, just a little detour off the Interstate. They must have been having one hell of a conversation in the car to not notice driving 150 miles perpendicularish to the direction they were intending to go.]

-Rats in a maze. Been in hotels like that. Mazes. They seem to attract Sci-Fi conventions. Loopy corridors that go nowhere, and of course The Everett Quality Inn in the '90's, with all traffic having to go through the pool area and that dimensional rift you had to find to actually get from the main hotel to any of the panel rooms? Yeah. Figures DeityCon 1 would pick a hotel layout like that. *headshake*

-Eyeball soup! Just in case you forgot what show you were watching. Really though, whatever they're boiling in can't be blood; blood's a protein and usually goes solid when cooked. So... borscht! With eyeballs. Nummy. *handwaves*

-"There's somebody behind me, isn't there." Heeeeee!

-Hee! Name tags. Saves a lot of exposition, but it makes this seem even more like a Convention. Everybody ready for the Godsketeers roll-call?

-GANESH!! *waves again* [One of the best known and most widely-worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon, according to Wikipedia. Oh dear. *facepalm*]

-ODIN!!!! YAAAAAAAY!! But he's got both eyes, which means either A) Supernatural research department blew their research roll big time, B) This is Odin before he sacrificed his eye to drink from Mimir's well at the base of Yggdrasil the World Tree and therefor hasn't been granted the wisdom and learning of the well yet, or C) He's taking advantage of modern science and gotten a damn fine glass eye. Hm. I say glass eye. Because of course the research never misses anything that big. It'd be like mispronouncing Samhain and making it a demon with crappy novelty contacts instead of a centuries-old festival. *koff* Anyway. Now I kind of want to know if Odin's vehicle has 8 wheels. And if Loki made it for him.

-KALI!! Oooo. She's Kali. Wow. They really aren't sticking to the historical and less active belief systems are they? [See, I didn't know how major Ganesh is in the Hindu belief system before this. Sadly my only prior experience of Ganesh was from The Simpsons and that didn't incite me to look up things about him. I would like to say that this episode has make me do more research into world belief systems than I did in the brief time I took Comparative Religions in college before realizing the instructor was a useless twonk.]

-BARON SAMEDI!! Oh wow! Baron Samedi?! O.o OMG! Cool! [Loa of sex and resurrection, hunh? I was not aware of that, either. He and Dean should have got along really well.]

-B-something! He's not Baldur is he? [BALDUR!] Missed his name tag. Incidentally nice font choices for the name-tags! [Although Baldur's is a little less Norse and more generic scrawl, but oh well *handwaves*]

-Sam and Dean are the Guests of Honor at DeityCon! Congratulations, guys! Or not, under the circumstances.

-*ogles the light fixtures* Damn. I... I think I want one... o.O

-Ground rules. Curbing wrath and no slaughtering each other. Hee. It's like the Evil League of Evil, except not necessarily evil. [...I can see the depiction of deities causing consternation at the very least among people whose deities these are. The depiction of witches and Judeo-Christian angels has also brought about some discomfort. Personally, I have no brain right now, so I'll leave the discussions of that topic to those more brainly-inclined. I suspect though that Kripke is basing his interpretations of deities off of old D&D supplements. *nods*]

-"We are so, so screwed." Yep! Perceptive Sam is perceptive. *nods*

-Judeo-Christian apocalypse. Ah. Addressing that issue in a way. I was kind of hoping that all the apocalypses were facets of the same trans-cultural event, but separate distinct apocalypses is cool too. *handwaves*

-Bargaining chips. Killing's useless, good to know. I guess they could just render the boys unusable as vessels somehow, but uh, let's not go there. o.O

-"I myself will be eaten by a big wolf!" Odin's beery summary of his role in Ragnarok is rather awesome, and pretty much exactly as I figure Odin would be. Also, Supernatural Research Department got the correct name of the freaking Midgaard Serpent [who's a child of Loki, BTW] and still gave Odin two eyes??? Gotta be a glass eye. Or pre-wisdom. I can buy pre-wisdom with that summary, actually. Of course, this is all SPN-verse pantheons, so a one-to-one correlation isn't mandatory or even expected. *nods and handwaves*

-"Don't mock my world turtle." \o/ Icon. Totally. Hey, wait. I missed this guy's name-tag. Is he a Discworld deity?? Does this meant Death really is DEATH??? :-o [Nope. He's Zao Shen. Apparently a kitchen god. he concept of a World Turtle is part of a few different real world cultural belief systems, elephants and all, which is freaking awesome. I'm learning a hell of a lot about real-world religions because of this ep.]

-Witness protection. Realization still sinking in that he IS Loki! As in filling that role in the SPN-version of the Norse pantheon, not just pretending to be a generi-Trickster for kicks. Does that mean that the Norse pantheon giants are actually the angels??? Needs so much more brain. [Hm. What's the implication for the SPN-verse Norse pantheon? Hm. ISTR, Baldur was a bit of a mama's boy and couldn't be killed by anything but mistletoe. Loki tricked, or rather will trick, Hod into throwing a mistletoe dart at Baldur (one day when they were all amusing themselves by throwing random stuff at Baldur - (Things like this happen often in the Norse Pantheon which is why I find Odin's attitude believable, even with two eyes) to watch it veer away before it hit him) - and kill him to set off Ragnarok and turn against the Norse Pantheon to fight on the side of the giants... Okay. I'm gonna have to do a Norse Mythology meta or something. There is way too much stuff going on with that to stick in a reaction post, and I keep getting sidetracked by ripple-effects in both directions, beginning to ending. Sometime in the summer maybe if no one else does one in the meantime.]

-Victim's blood on a stake? That works on non-trickster deities (or whatever these guys are)? Well, if not it puts 'em down for a bit. Hunh. Unless maybe the whole group of them are Tricksters pretending to be other deities, which would ...explain rather a lot. Although not where Dean got the stake from. But whatever. It's a kitchen made to cater to deities or faux-deities, it could have anything in it. *handwaves*

-Oh crap, Kali knew. Before she invited him. Must ponder those implications. Ooo. And blood-binding Gabriel. (How does that work with an envesseled entity?) Wow. Regardless, I like Kali.

-ACK! Ghostfacers! WTF! Oh right, Web-series. Have to check that out later if I can avoid spoilers. [Not available outside the US. FAIL, CW.]

-Archangel's blade. Ooo. There's a difference, hunh? Also, did she invite him there just to trap him and snake his weapon? Or was she trying to see where his loyalties were aligned before including him in whatever was going on? Or was she hoping he'd be on their side so she wouldn't have to use him or kill him because she really does care about him? Have I mentioned yet that, deity or no, I really like Kali.

-Westerners. Yep. *nods and leaves the analysis and meta to others* [...which given how late I am posting this probably has several dissertations floating around.]

-NOOOOOO! Not the Trickster! It's a fake blade, right? Way too soon and not enough build up to it. Plus he's freaking Loki. Also, no wing burn. If there had been it'd be smacking Sam and Dean square across the face there. What would that do to a person I wonder? *ponders*

-Oh and also, she's not an angel and only an angel can kill an angel. (An angel or Dean. But uh... that's a speculation for another day too.) Oooo. Unless she is an angel, pretending to be Kali in order to- gnh! Brain. Need brain.

-"Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up." Sounds familiar... [Heh. "Army of Darkness" lurkingwombat would have been most vexed if I hadn't recognized that, I suspect. This calls for a motivator.](Cap out of sequence because there wasn't a good one for this right there.)

-Sam's reactions to Dean all through this are priceless.

"WHAT!?"

"This isn't happening, I'm not here, It's just me and this bit of tablecloth I'm staring at intensely."

-Given what the boys have seen in the last little while about how these deities (or entities pretending to be deities) act towards each other, a loud blustery threatening monolog is pretty much the right tack to take. Also, Dean, facing down a roomful of (possible) deities (or tricksters, or... I don't know what) with the bolstering power of booze. Hee!

-More Sam faces!

"Excuse me??? What did you just say?"

"Pay no attention to the crazy man. I don't know him."

-"Eat me. Literally." Hee!

-Yay! They saved people! \o/

-Yep! Of course it was a fakeout. *waves at Gabriel*

-"Made it out of a can of diet orange Slice." Ah, replica weapons are a fine hobby to have. *nods*

-[Although... if Kali had a bloodbond on Gabriel, she'd still be able to detect that he's still alive, wouldn't she? Maybe she's in cahoots? Or maybe it's not that kind of blood-bonding. Ooooor he sent a simulacrum in and she never had his blood at all, although the implication seems to be he's bound there much as Sam and Dean are, even though Dean's outside the doors right now... there's probably a tether or something, which doesn't quite explain Gabriel and... I seriously do not have enough brain for this right now. So, I'mma say it's a combination of all of that somehow, or the blood-binding shield keeping the boys in has been extended to include the Impala for a minute or she's bound too because she's got so much assorted Winchester blood soaked into the upholstery etc. over the years she's affected by blood-bonds on any family member, or something else, but that would mean someone would know Gabriel's out there, maybe and.... Gah. Logic. Why am I applying logic? It's plot-magic. It works this way because the plot says it does. *headdesks and handwaves* ]

-"The smartass shell, the whole 'I could give a crap' thing, believe me. It takes one to know one." Wow... self-awareness from Dean. It really is the apocalypse. o.O

-Family. His adopted one. Aw. Yep. It's a theme, not an anvil. Always has been.

-Gabriel can't kill his brother. And Dean gives him a hard time about this? o.O Admittedly Gabriel's brother is Lucifer and not just Lucifer's specially-tailored Apocalypse formal wear, but still. Stop with the being all foreshadowy and making me nervous, Dean. Except I'm totally not nervous at all. I have Zen. Yes indeedy.*nods*

-"I just need you to squeegee some stuff from my ribs and he'll come running."/"Breaking them would be easier" *snort* I think I've gamed with these deities. Also, there has got to have been a very short intense conversation between Sam and Dean regarding insane plans, breaking cover, etc, sometime off-screen.

-HI LUCIFER! YOU LOOK LIKE SHIT! \o/

-Ooo. Mercury betrayed them all? Or did he get Lucifer to come so they can attack him. Though they don't seem like they're ready to launch an assault... Guess Mercury really didn't like getting choked. *nods*

-Worse than the humans. Lucifer slamming the pagans. Sigh. Well, Big L's been underground for a long time and likely doesn't realize the more correct modern term for Mercury's pantheon is 'Historical Polytheism' since Neopaganism has adopted use of the term Pagan. Back in Roman times and for a long while after that, pagan was used as the collective term for non-Judeo-Christian religions. Of course, this is also Lucifer, who probably cares even less about political correctness and not being a prejudiced jackass than the average flatworm. *nods and handwaves*

-Lucifer slaughtering a swath down the hall. Really. Hm. Well, if they're entities of some description pretending to be deities, they're toast. If they're deities, they're not dead, just wounded. And regrouping. And pissed off, but possibly more cautious and sneaky and less likely to go for a frontal assault. Otherwise who's gonna pound the crap out of the Midgaard serpent when Ragnarok rolls...in... nooooo. Heheh. Hypothetical Season Six. Sam and Dean have averted one Apocalypse, now they have to avert aaaaaaall the other ones. Hee!

-[Aw nuts. That print isn't the XKDC comic. Damn. That would have rocked.]

-...Although if they're going on the 'belief makes deities stronger' concept, and they are all deities, big L's got quite a jump on most of them. Depending on the location though, maybe... If this was in India and not Indiana, Lucifer would be totally boned. (Hm. Does the belief of followers have a field strength? *ponders*) Still. If this crowd is composed of actual deities, that little hissy fit of L there didn't kill squat. Not permanently. Noop. They'll all be fine. They're resting. Strategizing. Pining for the fjords in the case of Odin and Baldur perhaps. *nods*

-"Luci, I'm home!" Hee! So much facepalm. Aw. He's doing this for Kali, sort of, even though she killed him. Sap. Not a healthy relationship there, man. *shakes head*

-"Great big bag of dicks." *giggles rather a lot and might get around to applying some brain to this conversation between Gabriel and Lucifer sometime when brain is not dead from taxes*

-They rescued Kali. Wow. Now there's a bargaining chip. Kali isn't straight up destroyer. She's also Mother, the whole life cycle thing. I think. That might be a cultural misperception. The analysis of this ep by people who know something about stuff will be interesting. Yep. *nods* Also... yeah. She'll be back. *mentally adds Kali to the Wall, alongside her necklace*

-"I'm not getting in that thing."/"Just get in the car, princess." That sounds an awful lot like a Star Wars quote. Second ref tonight if so, what with the earlier Vadering of Mercury. Anyway, what's her problem with the Impala? *glowers* I like her, but deity or faux-deity, her opinion on cars needs some realignment.

-"NO ONE MAKES US DO ANYTHING!!!" EXACTLY! YEAH! TEAM FREE WILL! *chants and is rowdy* \o/

-Oh. Oh no. I liked him and he sided with the Winchesters and now he's dead. (Oooo, squeaky squishy pained whimpery noises and man, can Richard Speight Jr. scream. *shivers* O.o)

-Wing burn and floating ash. First ally angel down. Also first dead archangel, right? Damn. Ow. Ow. I was hoping he'd be... *sighs* Damn. Hm. Almost a hanged man position again, but not quite. Huuuuge fricking wings. And what's that extra patch up above his head on the second table? Hm *ponders* [That's a scorch mark form when Kali had the fire-arms going, it's in earlier shots. There goes a fine bit of entirely unfounded spec.][Random: He's wearing plaid! \o/ There's meta in that. *nods*]

-...except... what did he give them to guard? Please be a Soul Jar, please be a Soul Jar. (I had been hoping Dean's pendant would be a kind of Soul Jar for a while. Although knowing Kripke it would have turned out to be a Soul Jar for Michael. :-P)

-Heh. DVD. So much facepalm. Doesn't mean it can't still be a soul jar. Hah. Room 69. *even more facepalm*

-[Random: OMG, I have exactly the same laptop. *glances between paused screen and laptop case* Exactly alike, except for a minisculely different latch arrangement! Which means, despite the lack of product placement logo, Sam and Dean are using a MacBook. *gleee* \o/]

-Trap him back where he was before! Back in the pit! Hopefully the gate can be opened without slaughtering another church full of nuns because they're fresh out of Lillith. Duh! Option number three, huzzah! It's only so obvious I forgot about it entirely. Kripke distracted me with angst, the bastard. So! Not a soul jar or last testament DVD so much as a giant freaking clue phone. Awesome! *nods*

-Keys to the cage- HORSEMEN'S RINGS!!! *FLAAAAAAAAAAILS* IT IS A ROD KEY OF SEVEN FOUR PARTS QUEST!!! IT'S ALL ON THE WALL!!! \o/ And they're halfway there. Picking up the clue phone can be such a huge relief. Now they know there's a plan where neither of them have to worry about killing each other, and they can move forward from there. [With the drumbeats and horns of imminent 'we actually have a plan' ass-kicking on the soundtrack. Cool.]

-So, do they need to kill another major demon to get the gate to open and then the rings switch it from 'blow' to 'suck'? 'cause the only major demon left is Crowley, isn't it? Meg's a foot shlogger, unless she's leveled up in the interim.

-Pestilence time now! This should be excruciatingly gross.

-HEE! Pestilence is driving a greenish Pinto, or something very close to one! I called it! Sort of. Hee. Not the lime green one I linked, but this one's even better with the scuzziness.

-Awwwwwwww! Who's the cutest little CGI fly ever!

-OMG MATT FREWER!!! \o/ Most notoriously known as having played 80's icon Max Headroom, (and the lead in a weird little sitcom thing called Doctor, Doctor) but also the snarky angsty boss of an investigative team on an obscure yet awesome short-lived (four seasons? Holy crap!) Canadian show in the latter 90's called "PSI Factor". The first season was rather meh since they had a kind of 'fake Ghost Hunters' archetype to it that didn't work too well, but then Matt showed up and the show developed characters and conspiracy stuff and actual plot after that and it got good. If anyone recognizes that show, I will be shocked, amazed and thrilled, because until I saw him again just now I forgot all about it. Wow. PSI Factor. Like Canadian X-Files. [Wow again, he also played Sherlock Holmes in made-for-TV movies. I have obviously not been paying enough attention to Matt Frewer! o.O]

-Yes. Excruciatingly gross. Someone in the special effects department knows their bacterial mucus colors. *is not capping because EW and makes note not to eat within 2 hours of watching show next week* [...or later this week. Or something. *kicks work schedule*] Nice that they worked in the pollution aspect of pestilence as well, with the black smoke the car is emitting. *nods*

-"SIKN TRD" Hahaha. Nevada is so screwed.

It's all coming together. OMG You guys! \o/

*runs off to watch 5.20*

(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR REFERENCES TO SPOILERY MATERIAL IN COMMENTS! The definition of spoiler for this journal is located in left hand sidebar and includes references to promo material as spoilers. Theory and speculation based on aired episodes only.)

Right now I'm going with the thought that Gabriel was the Trickster for a long time while Lucifer was in his cage, so I think (hope) that he knows how to fake an Archangel death as well as all those Trickster deaths he has faked throughout the years. Either that or God of whoever brought Castiel back will do the same for Gabriel, because I will miss him. He was a great recurring adversary.

This wasn't my favourite ep ever, and the casual slaughtering of gods people actually worship in the world these days made me kinda uncomfortable (although is it any different from the Judeo-Christian God not giving a damn? Not sure about that one), but on the whole, this was a pretty enjoyable ep. Apart from Gabriel snuffing it. But of course God can bring angels back, right (Castiel), so He's hardly going to leave one of his Archangels dead is He? Right??? Right???????

I did like Kali though (Rekha Sharma was in an ep of Dark Angel if I remember right!) and her "No" before Dean had even asked the question. (She'd choose Gabriel over Dean? Sure, Richard's cute and all but...DEAN!)

I remember Doctor, Doctor! And PSI Factor (although I never watched it.) And of course Mark Sheppard's dad (W. Morgan Sheppard) was in Max Headroom...

Matt Frewer--SQUEEEE!!! Also, I remember Psi Factor and Sherlock Holmes, and of course Max!! So thrilled he is on. I am also wondering what is up with Odin's eye, it was bugging the crap out of me too, but glass is a good thought. Kali was indeed awesome, loved the interplay with her and Gabriel. Sigh, poor Gabriel, but excellent way to go. I was thinking about Pratchett right off with the turtle too..lol But yes, definitely more religions with that worldview. I don't figure they are all dead either, just banished or some such. Anyway, when I saw the title of the episode you could probably hear the squee and flail from where you were:P The eyeball soup also reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom banquet, but I am not sure if it was deliberate, who knows. Enjoy ep 20!!

Although if they're going on the 'belief makes deities stronger' concept, and they are all deities, big L's got quite a jump on most of them. Depending on the location though, maybe... If this was in India and not Indiana, Lucifer would be totally boned. (Hm. Does the belief of followers have a field strength? *ponders*) Still. If this crowd is composed of actual deities, that little hissy fit of L there didn't kill squat. Not permanently. Noop. They'll all be fine. They're resting. Strategizing. Pining for the fjords in the case of Odin and Baldur perhaps. *nods*

This has been puzzling me. How can an archangel kill gods? Totally different pay-grade I would have thought. So then it's got to be the Pratchett Small Gods - Gaiman American Gods number of worshipers equals power thing. Except that Lucifer is mythological and not part of any mainstream Christian theology! *mutter, mutter* But given that a whole heap of gods from other faiths just got killed I shouldn't worry too much about the way in which my faith is being misrepresented (reads invisible big disclaimer screen again).

They killed Gabriel! But he has a blood link with Kali and she's still alive so, dammit, he'd better be coming back for the big showdown. Because he's the coolest angel we've seen and I don't want him to die.

Haven't seen 5.20 yet, because my computer is giving me perfect sound but no vision. But if there's much Pestilence in it I'm going to be watching through half an eye with the sound down. That was - gross.

One thing I didn't mention, in the reaction, but I ran across a fascinating article on the differing viewpoints on Lucifer between Christianity and Judaism, which tied in to free will. Lost the link though, darn it, but it was just a quick gloss someone posted.

They killed Gabriel! But he has a blood link with Kali and she's still alive so, dammit, he'd better be coming back for the big showdown. Because he's the coolest angel we've seen and I don't want him to die.

I dunno. God brought Castiel back, so it's a possibility. I really wish I had the time and spare brain power to go through everything the Trickster has done and reinterpret it from what we know about him now.

Kali Ma the Destroyer, the Dark Mother. She kills demons and frees souls from the perception self, thus freeing them from suffering. So great is her wraith that only by prostrating himself beneath her feet can Shiva cease her destruction.

In her aspect as the Divine Mother she is seen as the Home of Compassion. She is the embodiment of the feminine side of nature and all that entails.

In her aspect as the Destroyer, she is merciless, drinking blood and dressing herself in the severed limbs of her enemies.

To those who worship her she is the most compassionate and loving of mothers. She is the fiercest of defenders.

If that really is Kali Ma, and she was defended by two mother-less boys? Two mother-less boys who spend ALOT of time in cemeteries?Yeah, keep her on the Wall, she'll be back.

You have much good squee in here, so of course the thing I single out to comment on is the MacBook (yes, I'm a Mac snob).

Apple MacIntosh computers have shown up quite often on the show, usually the iMac version on someone's desk. Fan!girl Becky has one, and they covered the Apple logo on the monitor with an apple-shaped sticky. I think the professor in WIaWSNB, whom Dean visited about the djinn, had a Mac.

I know from an early behind the scenes photoshoot that they use MacBooks on-set, so using them as props just makes sense. However, I'm rather surprised they so often seem to be de-branded or masked. I guess Apple wouldn't go for the product placement?

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